Volunteer Program & Internships

Our mission is to enable the creation of new work by emerging artists, in an environment that is supportive, open and democratic. We want YOUR work on our stages at home at 312 West 36th Street!

We have a year round, rolling submissions policy, completely open to artists across six disciplines: theater, dance, music, comedy, film and storytelling. We program new work at every stage of its development – from a thought, a conversation, a workshop to a fully realized production.

Our Artistic Policy

• All the work we present must be new in some shape or form, which includes both US and NYC premieres.
• We celebrate work that is collaborative, multi-disciplinary, brave and imaginative.
• Experimentation and pushing the boundaries within your form is strongly encouraged.
• We champion projects that are a force for political and social change.
• It’s about NOW. And it’s URGENT.
• We’ve been bold and free since 2003 and we are going to stay that way: no artist pays to play at The Tank!

To submit a proposal:

We only have one requirement before submitting: Please come see a show! Seeing the space in action is the best way to get to know it; plus you'll get a glimpse of the community we've got going on around here. We have lots of free readings, and shows start at $5. If you have any trouble finding something to come to, just email info@thetanknyc.org and we'll find something for you. We want you to see the space in action and get introduced to the community that we're building here. Thanks!

Please send as much information as possible to submissions@thetanknyc.org, with your discipline in the subject line. The proposal should include:

• The title and date of the show that you've seen here
• A detailed description of the piece you want to perform with us
• A script if there is one
• Information on the artists and/or the company and past projects.
• Any photos or video is great for us to see but please don’t worry if you don’t have these yet
• Please also include a simple marketing plan, or any ideas you have on how best to sell your show.
• Let us know if there's a timeframe (a month ideally) when you'd like to do your show. No worries if anytime is convenient, that's great!

Keep in mind that we run multiple shows each night in both of our theater spaces. Shows that run 60-90 minutes tend to work best, though we're open to work that is longer! This also means that the bulk of our work has pretty quick load-in and load-out times. We are definitely open to discussing how best to realize your designs in the space, but we are first and foremost a shared space.

You will have a response to your proposal within 4-8 weeks. Keep in mind that we're a small team over here (2.5 staff members!), so if you don't hear from us right away, it's not because we don't love you. Please don't call to follow up; we are not phone people. Thank you for your patience!

Things that are good to know:

The best way to get a sense of what we do, how we do it and the space itself, is to come and see a show!

We operate from Tuesday to Sunday each week, with a minimum of two performances a night. We run multiple shows each night in both of our new theater spaces.

We are a very small team, so we are unable to take unsolicited meetings during office hours. Please either email your submission, or email info@thetanknyc.org, with any queries before dropping in!

We are committed to diversity in our programming and our community. As such, we strongly encourage submissions from artists of all ethnicities, projects that are female-led, and work from the LGBTQIA community.

We provide all our artists with the following resources and support:

• free performance space
• at least four free hours of rehearsal space, with more available as needed
• access to additional free rehearsal space in the theater subject to availability
• access to one projector, a piano, chairs, rehearsal cubes, and tables
• artist fees in the form of a box office split and guaranteed stipend model
• front of house staff
• ticketing set up and managed through Brown Paper Tickets
• fiscal sponsorship (as needed) with a 3% processing fee (industry standard is 6-7%)
• promotional support such as inclusion in Tank eblasts and press releases, a post on The Tank's homepage and the creation of a show-specific page, and posts on social media outlets.

We are also able to accommodate a limited number of hourly rehearsal rentals around free hours given to shows performing with us. Please email info@thetanknyc.org to check availability. The rate is $15/hr.

For general information or inquiries about The Tank, please email info@thetanknyc.org.

What’s the thing you want to do? We want to help you do that thing! We are a small office and we run off of the contributions of our interns and volunteers, so you get a lot of responsibility. Do you want experience house managing? You got it. Do you want to build a donor database or help throw a fundraiser? Please do! Do you want to get butts in seats and help us with marketing? We’d love that! We want to work with you to make sure you get the skills you need and experience that you can use. We ask for a minimum commitment of 15 hours a week in the office and managing the house one night a week, or 10 hours a week in the office and two nights in the house. Office hours are 10:30-6:30 M-F, and performances happen Thursday through Sunday starting at 7pm and 3pm on Sundays.

TO APPLY:

Please email your resume and a one-page cover letter to rosalind@thetanknyc.org and put "INTERN - [your name]” in the subject line. Please specify what your area of interest is.

The Tank began in 2003 as an entirely volunteer run organization, and it remains almost completely volunteer run today. We simply couldn't keep our doors open without our dedicated team of volunteer staff. Please email collin@thetanknyc.org to get more information about what kind of help we need!